Experience

About me

Anirood is a fourth-generation South African of Indian origin. He completed Matric at Sastri College in Durban in 1969, thereafter completing a Higher National Diploma in Civil Engineering. He started working life as a Civil Engineering Technician in 1973 with land and engineering surveyors, town and township planning consultants, followed by a long stint with engineering consultants and contractors, undertaking the design and construction supervision. He joined the Development Bank of Southern Africa in 1988 as Senior Project/Programme Leader, undertaking development funding and project management of basic municipal services and housing, mostly in the Easter Cape. He joined the Greater Johannesburg Transitional Metropolitan Council at its establishment in 1995, as Executive Director: Reconstruction & Development Programme Unit and when this was changed to the Economic Development Directorate, he became its first head. He simultaneously was Director: Tourism, Marketing & Investment Promotion. Later he took up the post of Director: International Relations. Anirood resigned in 2007 to establish his consultancy, styled as Advocate of the High Court, Counsellor-at-Law, Public Sector Development Advisor, and Writer/Producer. He is currently the non-executive director of companies, a member of several municipal committees, and on two government (independent) appeal panels.

Qualifications

Anirood has the following academic qualifications: Higher National Diploma in Civil Engineering; Diploma in Photography; BA (majors in Private Law and Economics); BProc; LLB; MA – Creative Writing (cum laude); LLD (with specialisation in constitutional and public law, with local government being his forte). He has over the years completed several professional development short courses.

Work experience

Started full time employment in 1973 as a Civil Engineering Technician with land and engineering survey, town and township planning consultants. Left after three years to work for civil and marine engineering consultants and contractors as design technician, assistant resident engineer, and project/construction manager. Anirood served a year with the erstwhile Department of Housing, House of Representatives as Senior Town and Regional Planner, undertaking township and housing design. He joined the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) in 1988 as Senior Project/Programme Leader undertaking development finance for basic municipal services and housing, as well as budget planning and supervision for the department of local government and housing in the former Transkei and Ciskei, policy and strategy development, and advisor to the Small Business Development Unit, as well as the Labour-based Development Unit, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, and the Department of Trade & Industry. He was an ANC policy and strategy advisor from 1990 and its local government, law, and economic development advisor to the Central Wits Negotiating Forum in the early nineties. He contributed to the development of the 1993 Constitution and the (1993) Local Government Transition Act. He joined the City of Johannesburg in 1995 to spearhead a team to transform its 17 institutions into a metropolitan council. He was the Executive Director: Reconstruction and Development Programme Unit, and when this changed to Economic Development, became its head. He simultaneously (because of financial constraints in the municipality) was the Director: Marketing, Tourism & Investment Promotion. He later became Director: International Relations. He led in the establishment of a body for municipal representation which later was constituted as the South African Local Government Association (SALGA).

During his 12-year tenure, Anirood formulated several policies and strategies, multiyear business plans, model by-laws, and annual reports. He was a Convenor of the RDP Committee and was advisor on policy matters on an ad hoc basis to the Executive Committee, the Executive Mayor, and the Municipal Manager. Between 1997 and 2007, Anirood wrote 30 articles for international conferences, chapters in books, journal articles, and municipal model by-laws. He left the CoJ in 2007 to set up his own consultancy, styled Advocate of the High Court, Counsellor-at-Law, Director of Companies, and Writer- Producer for a movie-making company. Anirood currently writes and edits both fiction and non-fiction. He is at present serving on the following bodies:

Engineering Council of SA: Counsellor and member of committees: International Relations; Investigating; Legal Matters; and Strategic Advisory.

Housing Company Tshwane: Board member and Chair of Development & Projects Committee.

Gauteng Government: Member of Independent Appeals Panel.

Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality: Member of Appeals Authority.

Capricorn District Municipality: Member of Audit Committee; Performance Audit Committee.

Years of editing experience

Began writing (fiction) in 1984 and editing thereof. Non-fiction writing and editing (part-time) since 1995.Upon admission as an Advocate of the High Court in 1999, began writing and editing legal papers, etc. Currently writing a book with the working title, Enhanced Service Delivery in South Africa: The Role of Municipal Representation, and ghost-writing a story and screenplay.

Skills

Work skills relate to civil engineering development funding, economic development, corporate and municipal governance. Given one’s long experience, can write comfortably and authoritatively on these subjects. Special skills are in formulating, developing, reviewing and analysing policies, strategies, multi-year business plans, auditing, performance monitoring, evaluating, and impact assessment, programme and project management, contracts and their monitoring, constitutional, statutory, and regulatory compliance, annual reports and annual performance plans, narrative reports and executive summaries for prescribed format reports (such as for National Treasury, and the Auditor General), law-based reports, forensic investigations reports, conference reports, peer-reviewed articles for publication in academic and technical journals, chapters in books, formulation and review/analyses of proposals for essays, dissertations, and theses, development and revision of dissertations and theses into books and/or academic articles for professional journals, , writing novels, novellas, short stories and editing/revision thereof, ghost-writing, collaborative writing, memoirs, biographies, plays, radio plays, screenwriting, script review and analyses, development of synopsis, loglines, treatments for movies and television series, etc.

I am a member, inter alia, of the following organisations: International Bar Association; National Bar Council of SA; International Development Evaluation Association, SA Monitoring & Evaluation Association; Institute of Local Government Management; Environmental Law Association of SA; SA Public Administration & Management; Society of Engineers (UK); PEN (Poets, Essayists, and Novelists) International, Writers’ Guild of SA; Academic & Non-Fiction Authors’ Association of SA, SA Freelancers’ Association; and Professional Editors’ Group.

Special subjects

Law (specialising in constitutional, statutory, and regulatory aspects related to corporate and municipal governance, property law, class actions and public interest actions, and human rights, legal opinions and law research), housing, social housing, social development, economic development, development of the engineering profession, company law and good governance, land development and building contracts, etc.